Lilliana is a wife, mother, employee and entrepreneur trying to balance responsibilities with fun while raising her first child. A former PR pro and current Marketing Director for a group of doctors, Lilli and her husband loved travel, and when they had their daughter realized what a production it could be to take a trip with a baby (or any kids for that matter).

Note: This is an mySA.com City Brights Blog. These blogs are not written or edited by mySA or the San Antonio Express-News. The authors are solely responsible for the content.

Bullying

Last night I got to attend a special advanced screening of the documentary “Bully” by award-winning director Lee Hirsch and found that it was hard to turn my brain off at night. It was a moving reality check that made us take a look at an uncomfortable subject. The documentary highlights five students and their families that endured bullying in Iowa, Oklahoma and Georgia giving the audience a view of the true raw and cruel bullying that takes place in these schools. Was the film unbiased? Probably not. Was it one sided? Perhaps. But this is not a trial… it’s a wake-up call. “Bully” is a call to action that seeks to stir in us a sense of humanity and compassion to the point that we want to run out and do something about it.

In my own life I experienced incidents of bullying although we didn’t call it that in the 80’s. These prompted support and reassurance from my parents and since the incidents were small resolving them was easy because they ended as soon as I stood up to the girls doing the threatening. I was not tormented. These were not my friends and I had plenty of other friends. I never endured the mental stress or physical abuse that these kids did and yet these two incidents still stay in my mind. It’s hard to breathe when I think of how so many kids are mentally and physically abused at school by other children and that many times no one knows or seems to care.

About eight years ago I was a substitute teacher in middle and high schools on the south side of San Antonio. Middle school students especially seemed to be cruel to each other but when I heard it or saw it happening I stopped it and spoke to kids and administrators about it. What I came to realize is that in many instances the bullies’ where also victims of either bully parents or of parents who just didn’t seem to care. That said, the schools seemed to take discipline issues seriously. If a child was a repeat trouble-maker or particularly aggressive they were expelled and if the problem persisted, many times they would end up in alternative schools. Indeed, as noted in the film, this is an awfully complicated and difficult issue; however, that doesn’t mean our schools should ignore it or stop trying to help resolve it.

As a mother of two not yet in school this film made me feel anxious and frustrated but ultimately hopeful. I am hopeful that parents will take note, that children will take note, that school administrators will take note and that as a society we will be proactive and not just reactive to this growing problem in our schools. I encourage parents to go see the film with their tweens and teens. Go see it even if you have to do it alone. Allow this film to help be a springboard for conversation with your children, with your nieces and nephews or any other kids in your life. Let it remind you that one person can make a difference. That we can stand for the silent. Help the children in your life understand that small kind acts can make a big difference in the life of someone.

“I don’t believe in luck but I believe in hope.” – Alex Libby (11 year old victim of bullying)